Salvador, Brazil

Day 47 21 February

We pulled in to the harbor in a rain shower and tied up at 0810, port side to land. With office buildings and tall parking ramps along the docks our view was limited.

This city , now the 3^rd largest in Brazil, began in 1549 and for many years was known as Bahia. The full name is São Salvador da Baía de Todos os Santos, or “Holy Savior of All Saints Bay.” I will stick with “Salvador”. This was the center of the South American slave trade and was once the capitol of the country. For 300 years it was the most important port in Brazil. On the heights over the bay the old town is now a UNESCO site so it is a target for my exploration. Carnival here, which just ended, has the largest pool of celebrants in the world, according to Guinness Book of World Records. Some 2 million people will be in the streets celebrating Carnival.

We took a guided tour this morning that began with a bus tour to the newer part of the city so we could see some housing, commercial districts, hospitals and schools. (And graffiti, homeless people and some of the seedy side of life as well.) After a brief stop at the lighthouse we were taken up to old town, got out of the bus and began a walking tour. We took in the vista of the sea and the harbor, the Palacio, the Catedral Basilica (began in the mid 17^th century, completed mid 18^th century), crossing squares where vendors were dismantling stands and tents of Carnival. The squares and streets are cobblestone and old so walking took some attention. Pastel painted buildings line the squares and streets and in this district, everything is old. We walked through the Franciscan Monastery (began in 1715) and admired the 250 year old delft tile mosaics. Everywhere there are churches and those pastel buildings.

Palacio

Courtyard of Seminary at Basilica

Catedral Basilica

There are teens playing drums with the African beat of carnival and the streets are lines with small shops selling clothing, artwork, shoes, leather good, wood products, food and so on. There is an effort being made to restore the area and keep it up which we saw going on. There were police everywhere, tourist police, traffic police, city police, Federales. Here as in other cities in South America, a police car does not move without its blue lights flashing.

Down the hill and we caught our bus which took us to the artisan market for a ½ hour visit. We found the prices seemed high and the willingness for barter low and bought nothing. We scratched our plans for returning later for a longer walk through. Just watching for pick-pockets is a busy enough activity.

We were back aboard at 1345 and sailed at 1650. The Captain announced on the PA at sailing that there is a strike by longshoremen at our next port but it is scheduled to end at noon tomorrow. Our run up the coast will be adjusted so we will arrive at the end of the strike and will extend our stay in port by a couple of hours to accommodate the shore plans.

Noon report: 12° 58.11'S and 038° 30.73'W. Temp air and sea 82°F, 28°C. (I think the thermometers are not working.)